OBJECTIVES: (1) To study herpetic ophthalmitis in an appropriate animal model. (2) To observe the evolvement of lesions in the eye in intracerebrally-inoculated rats and to correlate the microscopic and virologic findings. (3) To investigate the possible importance of peripheral spread of viruses in herpetic encephalitides. INTRODUCTION: Newborn rats (Wister) inoculated intracerebrally (ic) with strain 075.72, type 2 herpes simplex (HSV-2) usually developed fatal encephalitis post inoculation (pi) Ocular lesions observed histologically in some rats consisted of focal uveitis and retinitis (Figs. 1&2). METHODS: Wistar rats will be inoculated ic with HSV-2 at 0, 5, 10, 20 or 40 days of age. A minimum of 180 animals, including controls, will be studied. Necropsies will be performed on clinically affected animals during the course of the study and survivors will be necropsied at 20 days pi. Sagitally halved brains and eyes will be collected from all animals for light microscopy. One half of the brain and selected eyes will be frozen for virology and immunoenzyme microscopy. Representative eyes will be collected and processed for scanning or transmission electron microscopy. Virologic and ultrastructural studies will be performed in collaboration with Drs. L.A. Hatch, and K. Galil, University of Western Ontario. SIGNIFICANCE: Herpetic infections of the eye are an important cause of visual damage in human medicine. This study should provide additional information regarding the pathogenesis of this disease.